The Web is S'pore's new crime scene

The number of online love scams rose sharply by 143 per cent last year, with victims - including a 74-year-old woman - being cheated of $8.8 million.

This was one of the crime statistics for last year that police revealed at a media conference yesterday.

Overall crime increased by 7.4 per cent last year, compared with 2013, with a large portion of the increase being due largely to a rise in e-commerce scams.

Singapore's overall crime rate had hit a 30-year low in 2013.

LOVE SCAMS

The statistics also showed that there were 197 love scams last year, a 143 per cent increase from 81 cases in 2013. About 85 per cent of these victims were female, aged between 20 and 74. A large proportion of the victims were aged between 35 and 60.

The love scams have many similarities: The conman typically converses with the victim through e-mail or phone calls, before saying he wants to come to Singapore to propose to her. Upon his "arrival", the conman would tell the victim that he was detained by Customs officers for carrying too much cash, and request the victim transfer money to free him.

In all, these love scams cheated victims out of $8.8 million last year, compared with $5.8 million in 2013. The largest scam amount last year was $883,109.

The police said the online love scammers were largely foreigners from the Philippines.

ONLINE CRIMES

Online crimes have also been on the rise, having more than trebled in the past year, the police said.

"Crimes are shifting online and new scams are constantly emerging, with victims falling prey every day," he said.

"On a positive note, the unlicensed moneylending and harassment situation has been improving steadily. The police will continue to raise awareness of scams so that members of public will not fall prey to them.

"We will also press on with our tough enforcement efforts against unlicensed moneylending-related activities."